ActionsA New CouncilInnichanne sees her children still recovering from the civil war which even now still labours on wearily, and as the signs of a grim tribulation ahead grow ever more frequent she decides to bring them out of their internal politicking to serve her once more. Priests of Innichanne are to be found placing words in the ear of every Queen, tainted and untainted, that Innichanne demands a new Council. Once more the traditions of the Council are warily carried out, even between mortal enemies.

Wrest Control of Hive IxWith the new Council allowing the untainted resistance some protection from their enemies, they became emboldened. So much so that through force of political machination and not a little skullduggery the Resistance managed to assassinate the Queen of Hive Ix, replacing her with an untainted imposter. The city was theirs, and it was there that the resistance rallied an army. Innichanne saw this and was displeased, so took the opportunity to redirect their efforts elsewhere.

The LabyrinthIn Hive Ix the priests called for the construction of the greatest Labyrinth the world had ever known, below the city deep in the heart of the mountains. Innichanne, in discussion with Nahequi, ordained its construction as part of the most complicated and deadly structure ever created. Whatever was to be kept there must truly be valuable, or dangerous. Or both.

ActionsThe Great Library of Elaei-GhulThe Order of the Codex had many great collections in many great libraries, but none so grand as the glassy halls of the Great Library, built with the Order's sponsorship in Elaei-Ghul. The library contained the greatest collection of texts that Kendara had ever seen, and Elaei-Ghul became almost a site of pilgrimage for the continent's greatest scholars.

The Corrupted WatersThe Ghul curse was foul in more ways than one. Where they disposed of the remains of their ghoulish meals, the land slowly began to react and warp. The very waters running from the western mountains into the great western inland sea ran through the interred tainted remains and passed that metaphysical corruption onto others. Those who live upon or drink regularly from the waters of the western inland sea, as well as the rivers running to and from it, are in danger from corruption. The area as a whole tends to produce creatures that are at a -1 modifier to their base alignment.

The Underwarrens and the UnderdarkAs the Skirrin civil war drew towards an exhausted stalemate both sides took stock in their positions and dug in, and dug down. The Underwarrens truly reached the roots of the world, and eventually in places they breached the Underdark itself. The Underwarrens now contain multiple secret passages to the Underdark.

[size=14pt]Cities[/size][b]The Underwarrens[/b]+ Connections to the Underdark, dug at the close of the Skirrin civil war[b]Elaei-Ghul[b]+ Great Library, built by the Order of the Codex in the Third Era of the First Age

So do you ever deal with imaginary situations that is at the core of many little kids games. Such as imaginary monsters, people, environments or even using everyday objects as props. A classic example of this is kids with cardboard boxes.

I think a general ideal most LARP games aspire to is to physrep (physically represent) as much of the game world as possible. This may be more or less possible in certain games - depending on the budget of the organisers/players, and depending on the style of game and the style of setting.

As opposite ends of the scale in terms of the games I play: our local linear system* is very light on the physrepping. Monsters rarely wear kit or makeup to identify them as any particular kind of monster - this sort of thing is described to the party before each encounter starts. Similarly, as a high fantasy world, it contains things that just have to be imagined, such as infinite planes of shattered glass, nightmares from the deepest places of the soul, swarms of spiders and insects, massive castles, and so forth. On the other end is Odyssey (as pictured). It is a fest-LARP** where the organisers have strived to make everything as well represented as possible. When a group of us rescued the golden fleece from the Greeks who were trying to steal it, there was indeed a fleece which was golden. The great arena where battles are held for the pleasure of the gods is a fully built arena with stadium seating. The money is represented with real, specially minted, coins. Obviously not everything can be represented accurately - the undead monstrosities encountered in the underworld are just crew who wear makeup; the arrows that people fire in combat are not pointy and steel-tipped; the gods themselves are crew in makeup and costume and when they turn you into a pair of smoking sandals the player doesn't also magically disappear immediately.

So yes, it's let's pretend on some level. But some systems put in a lot of effort to make everything as realistic as possible. Scandinavian LARP is well known for being as immersive*** and realistic as possible.

* Linear LARP is most commonly seen in the traditional roleplaying trope of a group of adventurers heading out on a quest. Essentially a plot is written by the organisers, and the party has to head through the plot in stages. Often the story is divided up into what are known as encounters, where the party does one chunk of plot like fighting a group of monsters, or talking to local villagers for information. It's called linear because a defined group heads linearly through a mostly-predefined narrative. Think of it more like DnD.** Fest LARP is distinct from Linear in that there is usually no predetermined narrative. More importantly however, there is no linear narrative - people are free to wander around and talk to or fight whoever they want. Think of it as being more like an MMO than a FPS.*** Being immersed in a gameworld and a character is somewhat like method acting, combined with the feeling that the world around you is genuine or authentic. It's easier to believe that you're in a land of ancient myth when a formation of roman soldiers marches by you with matching armour and kit. It's less easy to do so when the guy you're talking to is wearing jeans and a metallica t-shirt (this is why many LARP systems have kit standards, or at least a social contract which encourages good kit).

Lego's answered a number of these, but I thought I'd provide my perspective too.

1. Do they have Steam Punk LARP?Yes, there are a couple around. I love steampunk in general, and a lot of the LARP crowd that I know do too. Here's somepictures of me playing one game.

2. Do any of the LARPing with girls get flirty or even sexual? Note I am not tying to be a perv or anything but you are getting together a bunch of 20 year olds.Yes, depending on the person and the game. The guys do too. The social contract of some games makes this more or less common depending on where you are, who you're playing with and what sort of game it is. As Lego says, in-character flirtiness may not be the same as out-of-character flirtiness, and some people don't like being flirted with anyway. As long as stuff is mutually consensual and safe, it's all good. Out of character a lot of LARPers date other LARPers. My current girlfriend I met through LARP (there's a picture of us in the Photo Album thread).

3. What is the difference between LARPing and reenactments? Because I have a friend who in college did Civil War reenactments.I think Gec got this mostly right, and I expanded on it a little in the first post. Reenactment is mostly about history. LARP can be about history, but tends to be a game rather than serious recreation.

4. How is this diffrent or the same as "Cosplay"?Cosplay isn't usually about playing a game. The overlap tends to come from the costuming, I suppose.

5. Are their scripts or is everything improvisational?Again, depends on the game, but in most games, for the most part, everything is improvised. It's a little like improvisational theatre in that respect.

6. How are battles and stuff decided? Are their ever arguments where people act like little kids and say "You missed, I'm not dead!" ?Usually there are combat rules, often involving having a number of hitpoints and dealing certain amounts of damage when you hit someone, or other special effects. You hit someone with your weapon and call a number or an effect, and they take damage. Of course, combat systems vary quite a lot so there may be many different ways that a game could deal with combat.Mostly people are trusted to be fair and not cheat, so there are rarely disputes like the above. Of course, some people are cheaters and act like children, but usually if someone is caught cheating they are reprimanded and sometimes thrown out of the game. We just try not to play with those people.

7. Is this basically a grown up version of all the "pretend" games we played as little kids?Yeah, pretty much.

Also, I was wondering. Do some LARPers like to use some harmless pyrotechnics to cast magic spells? How do you deal with things like magic?Occasionally, yes, but they aren't common. I don't think pyrotechnics are usually allowed at most major events for safety reasons. Magic tends to be wrapped up into the combat rules, with a set of calls for all the magical effects that can happen. Although, as with combat, there are lots of ways of dealing with magic.

PhysiologySkirrin are small insectile humanoids with six limbs, who tend to make their homes in large underground Hives. Their segmented bodies are are covered by a chitinous exoskeleton and tend to range in colour from light brown through to black; other colours happen occasionally but colour is usually uniform across a Hive. Their large buglike eyes are well adapted to seeing in even the darkest conditions. They tend to feed on fungus but are omnivorous, and their mandibles are used both for feeding and as part of speech.A Skirrin Queen is a large and sedentary creature which is barely able to move under its own volition. It resembles a large Skirrin whose abdomen has swollen to gigantic proportions and which is filled with eggs.Skirrin Drones are much larger Skirrin, which are stronger but slower and generally less intelligent.

LifecycleSkirrin generally live around 20 years, up to 40 years at most, though generally a Skirrin will die of disease or injury before then. They are fully mature at the age of approximately 1 year. A regular Skirrin has no gender or sex drive, though some rare (1 in 100) are "male" and are capable of mating with a Skirrin Queen in order to breed. Deprived of contact with a Queen for a long period of time, a regular Skirrin may under rare circumstances undergo a lengthy transformation process and become a Queen. This process is often marked by an incredible craving for lots of food, nesting instincts, and a complete change to a sedentary lifestyle. A Skirrin Queen will mate with a "male" and produce large clutches of eggs, up to 100 at a time.

CultureSkirrin culture varies from Hive to Hive, but generally Skirrin are hard-working and industrious with a knack for working on great projects. Skirrin tend to be lawful, but they have nearly as much free will as any other creature, so may have any alignment. Skirrin as a language is difficult for a non-Skirrin to speak as much of it involves clicking the mandibles but is universal across the Hives. Many Skirrin Hives are tainted and their Queens are influenced by Nahequi, but there are some Skirrin who are untainted and hold out a resistance.

Stats are given for a regular Skirrin. Skirrin Queens and Drones have different stat-lines.

+2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution

Small: As a Small creature, a Skirrin gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but they use smaller weapons than medium creatures use, and their lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.

Multiple limbs: Skirrin have four hands and as such may be eligible for the multi-weapon fighting feat. Skirrin cannot wear armour that was designed for a non-Skirrin. Skirrin armour is treated as non-humanoid for the purposes of cost and weight. Skirrin may carry multiple shields, and may stack shield bonuses to AC for up to two shields rather than one.

Natural armour: Skirrin gain a +1 natural armour bonus to AC, and may be eligible for such feats as Improved Natural Armour. This does not affect their ability to wear regular armour.

Skirrin base land speed is 20 feet. A Skirrin may use four limbs to run, in which case it increases its base land speed to 30 feet, but cannot make use of its those limbs and takes a -2 penalty to Dex on actions which would require the use of hands.

Darkvision: Skirrin can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and Skirrin can function just fine with no light at all.

+2 Racial bonus on Craft (smithing) checks.

+2 Racial bonus on Profession (mining) checks

A Skirrin may always treat the Knowledge (dungeoneering), Climb and Balance skills as Class skills regardless of their class.

Stonecunning: This ability grants a Skirrin a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like. Something that isn’t stone but that is disguised as stone also counts as unusual stonework. A Skirrin who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as if they were actively searching, and a Skirrin can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A Skirrin can also intuit depth, sensing their approximate depth underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up.

Hivemind: A Skirrin takes a -2 penalty on the Will save to resist a Skirrin Queen's Suggestion spell-like ability.

Can people who don't want to participate just observe or does the group prefer not to have an audience?

Most of the games I've been to have been on closed sites so that members of the public can't just wander in and disrupt things. I suppose it might be possible to observe, but most games would prefer you to play. LARP doesn't tend to lend itself that well to observation; often the interaction between characters is private or infrequent so whilst it would be fun to have a soap-opera style overview of what's going on to all the characters it doesn't really work out like that. Imagine trying to observe people going about their daily lives, and you can see the sorts of difficulties that you might get into.

On the other hand, especially at festival events, it is possible to play a very passive character who doesn't get very involved. This is more practical at some events than others - an event I attended recently (Odyssey, at which the pictures above were taken) had a large arena where fights were scheduled, so it would be possible to watch those. However at other events the "action" happens on its own terms, on its own schedule. You'd have to be a part of it to see it*. You can be a tourist and wander around talking to people and watching, but the most fun happens when you get stuck in.

*This is actually a problem when it comes to photography. Photographers tend to be crew whose job it is to remain as inconspicuous as they can whilst taking pictures. Frequently they miss large parts of important action because they just can't get near it without disrupting what is going on.